She missed a beat. Henderson was the kind of town that sank its claws into people and didn’t let go. “You’re moving?”
“Yep.”
“To New York City?”
“Yep.”
A pang clamped around her chest. He said it so easily, like it was something just anyone could do, any time they liked. “What prompted that?”
He shrugged. “I’m just ready for a bigger pond. You can only go so far in this town, you know?”
She nodded. Shedidknow.
“Hey,” he said. “Last I heard, you were doing something brainy out there. Something mathy, like you always said. Accounting, maybe?”
Aubrey mustered a limp smile. People who didn’t work with numbers rarely grasped the distinctions, so she doubted Gallant had demoted her on purpose. “I’m a mathematician, actually.” Or had been. Right now, she wasn’t anything, except disgraced.
“Wow.” His eyes flared. “That sounds important. Good for you.”
“Thanks.” She smoothed over the wobble in her voice with a cleared throat. “Seems like you did pretty well, yourself. Fancy car, fancy clothes...” She gestured to his charcoal blazer and pressed black slacks. “I’m guessing you didn’t end up at the steel mill.”
He laughed. “Nope. Real estate.”
“That’s fantastic.”
He slid the Tesla into a parking spot outside the Kroger. Glowing neon letters arced above the store’s front doors, backlit by the fading sky. In the distance, the mill crouched like a watchful spider.
“Just tell me what you need, and I’ll grab it,” he said. “No reason to make that ankle any worse.”
Aubrey bit her lip, hesitant to indebt herself further. Gallant didn’t seem to expect anything in exchange for the ride, but she didn’t think she’d imagined the appreciative glow in his eyes.
The corners of his mouth flicked up. “I can’t get over how incredible you look. Really.”
Nope, not imagining it at all. “Thanks,” she said crisply. “But I’d better go in myself. I have extra shoes in my suitcase, so I’ll just change real quick. I won’t be long.”
His forehead knitted. “You sure?”
“Yep.”
He shrugged and pulled out his cell phone, settling in to wait. Aubrey limped to the trunk to swap her stilettos for ballet flats. By the time the store’s sliding doors hissed open, the throb in her ankle had her questioning her decision, but she straightened her spine and pushed onward.
Inside, more men in coveralls and women in jeans browsed beneath fluorescent lights. A poster soliciting donations for Henderson’s homeless pets met her front and center.
She paused and dug through her purse for a twenty, then pondered the wisdom of parting with it. Breaking her lease in New York had also broken her bank account, but she would earn more money, eventually. Worthy causes couldn’t usually wait.
That decided, she stuffed the bill into the bucket and found a cart, letting the pushbar take most of her weight. She rolled over to a display of firewood. If there was one thing shehadmissed about Henderson, it was the rambling old Victorian she’d grown up in. The majestic two-story boasted a wood-burning fireplace, which would come in handy, given that the furnace had been switched off for years and Aubrey had no idea how to rectify that. Tomorrow, she’d hire a handyman, but tonight, her plans involved a steaming mug of tea and a good, old-fashioned roaring blaze.
After loading up on firewood and basic groceries, she found the first-aid aisle. Now that she was moving around, the sprain didn’t feel as debilitating as it had initially, but a brace wouldn’t go amiss.
Aubrey was gazing down, trying to decide between the ACE wrap in one hand and the lace-up brace in the other, when the hair on her neck lifted. A tingle flooded her skin.
And she knew. She justknewNick Thacker hadn’t moved away. Somehow, the cadence of his footsteps still lived within her memory.
He came up behind her and stopped.
Her lungs quavered, but she stayed still, determined not to give him the satisfaction of turning around. He’d have to ask, and even then, she might walk away without even showing her face.
Except when he rasped a single word, it dropped straight into her.
